1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an inflatable mattress and, more specifically, to a mattress having multiple, fluidly-unconnected chambers that can be selectively inflated and deflated to increase and decrease the pressure exerted from positions on the mattress surface on various points of contact with the human body.
2. The Relevant Technology
There is evidence that decubitus ulcers, otherwise known as pressure sores or bedsores, may develop when a bed-ridden person is not able to move. For example, people who are unconscious, unable to sense pain, paralyzed or otherwise unable to move can remain in the same location fostering the development of the bedsores. Bedsores are ugly, generally regarded as painful and typically debilitating. To reduce the incidence of bed sores, people in attendance to the bed-ridden person need to move or rotate the bed ridden person on a regular basis and in turn vary the parts of the body that are exposed to the pressure and reduce the risk of developing bed sores. Bed sores can be found on people/patients in hospitals, nursing homes and in homes under home care. Bedsores can lead to additional medical complications, including bone and blood infections, infectious arthritis, penetrating holes below the wound that burrow into bone or deeper tissues, and scar carcinoma, a form of cancer that develops in scar tissue.
Bedsores generally form at points of pressure, where the weight of the patient's body presses the skin against the firm surface of the bed. The skin's blood supply is believed to be interrupted or reduced by the pressure in turn causing injury to skin cells which can cause them to die. Unless the pressure is periodically is relieved to allow full blood flow to the pressed areas of the skin, the skin cells in the area start to die leading to ulcerations as the body seeks to deal with the cells. The ulcerations can grow into notable bed sores some in excess of the area of a quarter or half dollar. To allow blood to flow to the areas of restriction and reduce the risk of sores, attending personnel are typically tasked to regularly turn the patients. However, turning of patients as tasked does not always happen for reasons not pertinent here.
Bedsores are commonly found on or near the tail bone area, hips, back, elbows, heels and ankles. They can become deep, extending into the muscle. Muscle is even more prone to severe injury from pressure than skin. This means that mild injury to the skin may cover a deeper, more pronounced injury to muscle. Bedsores are extremely difficult to heal, unnecessary and can be prevented. It is much easier and cheaper to prevent a bed sore than to try and heal a bedsore.
Inflatable mattresses that are seen in the literature appear to be and are believed to be difficult to operate, expensive, and unreliable. In turn, it is understood that such have enjoyed only limited acceptance. An inflatable mattress that is easily usable for a patient or hospital bed that is reliable and easy to operate is not known. An inflatable mattress that varies the pressure in separate cells under different parts of the body and that accurately and promptly operates to maintain the pressure and then vary it in accordance with individual or preprogrammed instructions is also not known.